Tag Archives: egypt

This is a sampling of what you find when you do a Google Image Search for “Love Wins.”

Seriously, I didn’t expect to be so inspired by the sheer variety of representations of such a simple phrase.

I just thought I was going to add some pretty pictures to my last (for now) Rob Bell-related post…. but the sheer number of ways “Love Wins” is re-cast, having inspired people to do so? What can I say? I’m moved by a Google search.

It’s not just lip service that Rob Bell pays: The simple message of “Love Wins” (as contradictory as Peter Rollins might find it) is clearly a compelling one, especially to post-Christians, the “de-churched,” or those jaded to institutional Christianity. It strikes a nerve.

Smarta$$.

It’s too bad that we have spent so much time… (for me, I have spent four blog posts, now)…. talking about hell and the implications for various Christian ideological/cultural parties… when we could have been discussing the simple appeal of the message—that I believe comes from something deeper than what some are accusing as the modern world’s need to “water down” the Gospel.

It’s the desire to affirm that love is the supreme attribute of God and the primary life-characteristic of the faithful (1 John 4:8, 16; 1 Corinthians 13:13).

It’s a desire to see the power of love in action, even in a world full of violence—a power to which Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero, Mother Teresa, Martin Niemoller, Desmond Tutu, Gandhi and now our brothers and sisters in Egypt, have testified. [At the cross, God Himself testified to that power, in defiance of the Roman juggernaut… and demonstrated how pitifully powerless the worst of human violence was, when it came into contact with His outstanding, out-lasting, out-of-this-world love.]

It’s saying that God wins, to say that love wins.

For God is Love.

And God’s desire? That the world might be reconciled to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). Our desires line up with God’s, when we long for the earth to be renewed, for heaven to come to earth.

“But wait!” you might say.

“Don’t God’s love and God’s justice have to balance each other?”

Why?

It’s called mercy for a reason, after all. Undeserved.

And if that were the case, why doesn’t the Bible have balancing passages that say “God is justice?” Seems like it would, were it an equal component of God’s character to His love.

No, we understand God’s justice through the context of God’s love. God will hold us accountable for how we have wronged each other; He will make things right again, as the Righteous Judge, and settle accounts between every oppressor and every oppressed. [How He does this, however, is not for us to speculate.]

Earthly parents give consequences for broken rules, but if they lock children in their room forever, that would be considered unadulterated child abuse. (Never mind if they set that room on fire!) Loving parents enact consequences, but they also forgive relentlessly, time and time again, without limit. Is the love of parents greater than God’s love?

This message? That God’s love will dry up eventually, so get on board while you can? Doesn’t strike me as good news.

Am I a universalist? No. (Course, I don’t think Rob is, either.)

Do I probably agree with Rob? Don’t know until I read the book; based on interviews and reviews, I’m guessing that I’ll agree with 90% of him, at least.

I say what I do above about God’s love for the purpose of highlighting the inherently scandalous nature of love, not to take a theological position. I don’t have the answers. But within the huge range of possibilities of the nuances we highlight regarding our beliefs about heaven and hell, can we at least maybe, at least try, perhaps just once, pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top, let that AMAZING RADICALITY OF GOD’S GRACE AND LOVE, AND THE CONQUERING OF SIN AND DEATH BY A DRAMATIC LOVE-ACT OF GOD HIMSELF, SETTLE INTO OUR HEARTS…. and chew on it for a while?

Speaking of Egypt— While Evangelical Christianity is wetting its pants over Rob Bell, there’s a WHOLE lot going on in the world.

Stuff that Christians, who claim to serve a GOD OF LOVE, should be VERY concerned about.

Rather than spew vitriol, which is a testimony to some other God other than the Crucified One which we follow…

Perhaps we should instead testify to the God of Love. You can start right now by giving to the Adventure Project. Then give to the Red Cross for Japan and Libya. Then learn more, speak out more, get in the ears of your leaders for the sake of the voiceless more, sit with the poor and hurting and get to know their names more, pray more, listen more, and celebrate more.

As the protests in Egypt continue but as the US coverage has (in my observation) somewhat waned in the past few days, you may be ashamed to say that, alas, you did not keep up very well with the events in Egypt last week. [perhaps as you were busy trying to keep warm] No judgment here for your apathy up to now; don’t worry! In fact, in an effort to help you catch up, all the while avoiding the usual suspects of talking heads that skew deliver our news, may I present to you [as a fellow apathy-prone person] a collection of articles that have been helpful to me as I am attempting to make sense of what is happening:

(Note: It should not be assumed that all the views in these articles represent my own opinion. I did, however, find them all refreshing, informative, and well-articulated on the whole. )